External Working Memory and the Amount of Distributed Cognition

Naoki Maeda, Columbia University

Abstract

While processing of a large number of (visuo-spatial) items are
oftentimes necessary for ongoing cognitive activities, the biological working
memory can process only about four items of information. Then it is a mystery how
we cope with complex world situations. This is the paradox of working memory.
This paradox is solved once we view the external features of the world as
constituting part of working memory. Part of working memory is externally
distributed iff the external features of the world constitute part of material
supervenience base of working memory. Tversky’s Spractions (2010), or
actions onto the world, are the key to offload of cognition, because they
redirect the attention at the working memory level only to relevant aspects of
the world. To see how people use spractions to offload working memory load,
subjects were asked to build a Lego block in front of a camera. Using cognitive
ethnography, it was observed that they all relied on spractions to cognize. From
the fact that the biological working memory can process only about four items of
information, the amount of working memory based distributed cognition can be
calculated.